Honest question: what if your suggestion isn't an option? In this case, there was no "setting aside extra time"--he ended up having to leave the airport. I can't drive from Florida to the UK for work, and refusal to travel would mean losing my job. What else can I do?

And this is how it works - not by force but by inconvenience. They don't need to point a gun at people any more, people will give up their freedom in return for money or products or to avoid their bureaucracy.

Well, you can make their life a real pain in the ass by fake smuggling things into the airport. Strap a bunch of blocks of cheese under your shirt before you go through the screening area. Nothing illegal about that, but it'll tie up the system and make things hard for them because the density of sharp cheddar is similar to that of C-4. Sure you'd suffer some repercussions, too, but I think it would be worth it.

TL; DR We can negate the utility of these devices if we all strap cheese to ourselves when going through airport security.

I actually don't do this job any more, but was using it for the sake of discussion. When I did have that job, I worked for a credit card processing company and was an on-site client advisor. Basically, if a retailer wants to offer a credit card, they outsource the data processing (approvals, statement rendering, phone support, etc.). I worked with the programmers, finance people, and network people to be sure the conversions happened correctly.

When possible it was done remotely, but at crunch time it really only worked when everybody was physically together.

Tell your company that if you are required to travel, they must pay for your travel that is most convenient for you. Private charters (at least in my area) are not covered by the TSA. If the company won't foot the bill, find a new job.

Or you find a new job. If they want to keep you, they have to meet your requirements. Are you telling me that if your employer came to you and said, "We can't afford to pay you this month, but we've scheduled you for an extra 20 hours a week" You'd say, "sure, I'll work for you for free, and the extra hours, too."?